When Cara Rager was a child, she loved watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on her local PBS television station. Those shows along with her beloved second-grade teacher Mrs. Sagon, made Rager realize that her calling was to work with young children. “Positive role models like those on PBS have such a huge impact on children’s futures,” she said. “I love being able to expose the community to our wonderful programming, which provides families with the opportunity to engage in positive literary experiences.”

Today, as the Manager of Educational Training and Family Engagement at WXXI Public Broadcasting, Rager is spreading the word about how to utilize PBS and public media content as learning tools — from video clips and online games to offline activities and developmentally appropriate media. She is responsible for pre-K to 12th-grade outreach and educational services for students as well as parents, caregivers, teachers, and community members. The programs she oversees include teacher professional development offerings, summer and informal learning opportunities, and family literacy engagement events.

Kristin Tutino, publicist for WXXI nominated Rager as a Woman to Watch because of the amazing educational work she does in the community. “She works with parents and caregivers to empower them with information and resources to use with their kids at home and finds ways for children to have fun and learn at the same time. She is also an adviser for WXXI’s statewide Homework Hotline television show. Cara is smart, witty, and has non-stop energy! Her love of learning is infectious.”

Personal: 33, married, two dogs and one cat, resident of the North Winton/Browncroft neighborhood of Rochester.

Education: Bachelor of Science in elementary education, Ralph C. Wilson School of Education at St. John Fisher College, 2002; Masters of Science in teaching reading and literacy, Margaret Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, 2009.

I just recently received the honor of WXXI’s Employee of the Year – which is so amazing!

I’m currently collaborating with the Toy Library, located at the Lincoln Branch Library and part of the Monroe County Library System, and Rochester City School District's Roberto Clemente School 8. Together we are creating and piloting a series of classroom play kits focused on hands-on, open-ended, child-directed play.

I’m also partnering with the Central Library to expand our free, weekly, hands-on STEM Exploration Stations summer learning family experiences for children 2-12. We’re working with the Central Library and Nazareth College to find ways to extend this project for use at other library branches.

My favorite app: As a huge reader, I love the library’s OverDrive app which provides access to many ebooks and audiobooks. I feel lucky to have such a great community resource available for free.

The biggest challenge I’ve overcome: I always wanted to be a teacher and assumed that I’d end up teaching in a traditional classroom. Searching for teaching positions after grad school was frustrating because our local market was flooded with teachers. So, I started exploring alternative opportunities that still focused on educating youth or creating learning experiences and I stumbled upon the WXXI Education position eight years ago. Uncharted territory is always scary but I’m so thankful that I stepped outside of the lines! I’ve grown as an educator, seen my philosophy of education shift and expand, and made meaningful community connections. My amazing network of family, friends, and colleagues supported me through all my hesitations and uncertainties.

I’m inspired by:My mom, Dale Rager, is the epitome of strong and is one of the hardest working, most caring people I know. I’ve watched her change careers, go through health scares, deal with difficulties and never give up. One of the most important lessons she’s taught me is that it’s okay to fail but you can never give up. Always keep trying and moving forward, even if the only thing you can do is put one foot in front of the other.

My guilty pleasure: I love animals, especially dogs. If I could adopt all of the homeless dogs, I would. I have two rescue dogs and feel very strongly about adopting animals, being a responsible pet owner, and eliminating breed-specific stereotypes.

My favorite inspiring quote: “As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has — or ever will have — something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” — Fred “Mr. Rogers” Rogers

Sandy Sloane is a Rochester-area freelance writer.

To nominate

Woman to Watch features outstanding young women who are community servants and rising stars in the Rochester area. We also feature women from our On the Move database.